The Office is fascinating viewing. The clever humor is so subtle and so British that it maintains a constant unease throughout the entire season. The writer and director clearly know that the pain of a joke gone bad is the long silent unease that follows. While any other show would cut away and ease the tension, this one wallows in it leaving the viewer wanting to run but afraid to turn away.

Ricky Gervais, the corpulent star of the show clearly wrote it for himself. He is the center of every scene. His character is so understandably despicable and so perfectly representative of smarmy business managers that you can't keep yourself from watching him and every episode even though you know that there will never be a happy ending.